Tuesday, May 18, 2010

TWD—Apple-Apple Bread Pudding—or not, or Maybe, Hmmm? Chocolate Cobbler, too.

Early last week, I made half the recipe for this week’s pick by Liz (Luh-OVE her!) at Cake...or DEATH?.  Everything went quick smoothly.  I chose a multigrain boule from the bakery for the bread because that’s the kind of bread I like.  I caramelized the apples. (Yum.)  I spread each slice of bread with apple butter.  Followed along with the recipe nicely.  Then, I played Miss Healthy-Pants and made the pudding with skim milk (I still used the heavy cream though).  But for the eggs, which should have been 1 1/2 eggs and 2 1/2 yolks, I decided to just use 3 whole eggs.  That was close enough.  Right?  I dunno.  Other than that I followed the recipe exactly, but what I ended up with was a not-so-pleasant really eggy goop on the bottom with bread and apples floating on the top.  I already don’t care for most custard/eggy type desserts, bread pudding being one of them, but I was optimistic about this one and thought it sounded really good.  ‘Sides, I didn’t want to skip out on Liz’ pick.

For fun and because I thought it sounded good, I made a walnut crumb topping and sprinkled it on the bread pudding about halfway through its bake time. 

DSCF3471

It looks good, huh?

Well, I’ve spared you any other pictures of it because it just wasn’t pretty or edible.  I just cannot eat scrambled egg whites with sweet, carmel apples and cinnamon sugar topping.  ;)  I told myself all weekend that I would make 1/4 the recipe sometime with the remaining bread.  But we were having company for desserts Friday night (the day my bread pudding failed) and I decided to turn to chocolate!

I had seen this really yummy looking Chocolate Cobbler at Pioneer Woman’s blog and besides it looking so good, thought it sounded really fast and easy.  I had made homemade vanilla bean ice cream to go with the bread pudding, so it worked perfectly with the chocolate cobbler as well.  What is chocolate cobbler?  It seems to have many names.  Hot Pudding Cake and Chocolate Pudding Cake to name a few.  The chocolate cobbler version is from a recipe submitter to Pioneer Woman’s Tasty Kitchen website.  The dessert was delicious!  The recipe is there on either one of the links here.  Whip it up next time you need a quick, super rich chocolaty dessert in a hurry.  It only has a few basic ingredients that you probably have on hand (It doesn’t even have any eggs!).

DSCF3473

This was my first time using real (or fake—hehe) vanilla beans for something.  I used David Lebovitz Philadelphia Style Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from his book, The Perfect Scoop.  It was really good.

DSCF3482

________________________________________________________________________________

Then, I got this crazy delightful idea today (Monday) to make my own version of apple bread “pudding”.  I toasted a slice of the remaining multigrain bread I had.

DSCF3505

Then I spread apple butter on it.

DSCF3506

I caramelized some sliced apple and put that on top of the apple butter toast.

DSCF3508

Pudding, pudding, hmmm, let’s see.  Aha.  Fat free vanilla yogurt.

DSCF3510

After removing the apples from the pan, there was a tablespoon or so of the syrupy caramel.  So I let it caramelize a bit more, then added a touch of cream to it and boom—had a little caramel!

DSCF3514

A few walnuts sprinkled on top and this was a GREAT not-so-unhealthy lunch for me!  (Had a little salad a bit later with some salad mix from the farmers’ market.)

DSCF3519

DSCF3524

Seriously good.  I will be having this again sometime.  Thank you, Liz, I would have never thought about something like this had you not picked the bread pudding for TWD this week.  You can get the bread pudding recipe on Liz’ blog.

And in closing, a completely random picture of Taylor.  He was playing outside, even clear down the street with part of the mop bucket on his head (said it was his cowboy hat).

DSCF3472

Ride ‘em, Cowboy. ;)

27 comments:

Liz said...

Luh-OVE you too! Sorry that the original recipe didn't work (and quite frankly, I'm kinda glad we didn't get pics of the scrambled egg pudding!) but your healthy lunch version looks awesome! I'm going to bookmark the chocolate cobbler, too--yum.

Clumbsy Cookie said...

I'm not a huuuuuuuuuge fan of bread pudding like desserts, but I can eat it. Of course I can, it's sweet, I'll eat it. Shame yours didn't turn out, I must say it actually looks great with the crumb (nice touch!). You did great with the single serving ahahah, I would like that too! Ps- I could have that coobler now for breakfast!

Hindy said...

Good call. I wasn't a fan of the recipe and would gladly have enjoyed your toast w/ apples and goodies on top. Nicely done!

chocolatechic said...

I don't like bread pudding either, so I married it with one of PW's recipes

Paula said...

Girl, your mind has been working overtime. I can totally relate. Sorry about the scrambled egg fiasco. I didn't see the "chocolate cobbler" on PW's site but when you talked about the other names for it, now I get it. Amazing,how a name changes your perception.

Anonymous said...

Maybe bread pudding isn't a very flexible recipe? Oh well, everything else looks good!

Megan said...

Well the caramel apple toasty thing looks delicious for sure! Sorry about the bread pudding. I hate the waste when a recipe dosen't work out. I'm looking for ice cream recipes for a post so I want to include you and the Pilli ice cream. Have you posted it and do you have a link?

Valerie Gamine said...

I'm sorry the recipe didn't turn out as planned, eggs are sneaky like that. But that chocolate cobbler is killing me. Wow. Why does chocolate always make me hungry even when I'm not? :)

natalia said...

Ciao !! I admire your fantasy !! no wonder it's good !!

Leslie said...

So sorry your bread pudding was a disaster but you sure made the best of it! I made that chocolate concoction when it was on ATK years ago and it was amazing! Chocolate is the healer of many wounds and cooking mishaps. Your lunch looks delish and healthy in a seemingly decadent sort of way. Perfect!

Ashley aka Eclectic Connoisseur said...

Hate that the original recipe didn't turn out for you. The chocolate cobbler looks divine though!

Bella Baker said...

well even if the original bread pudding didn't work out, that chocolate cobbler and your version of the apple bread pudding certainly look fabulous!!! I am in awe of you!! You always find the time to make lots of variations!!!

Flourchild said...

The pictures look great. Bread pudding is just not the biggest thrill around!!

Mary said...

Too bad about the original recipe, but I think you more than made up for it with the chocolate cobbler and the apple open-faced sandwich! They both look amazing!

TeaLady said...

sorry the pudding didn't work for you. I made 1/2 and used 3 yolks and 1 egg and it came out just right. Course, I didn't use ALL the custard. maybe you used too mcuh.

But the chocolate cobbler looks fantastic.

Anonymous said...

I saw that chocolate cobbler recipe too and was wondering how it tasted. Always good to get a review. Thanks for sparing us the scrambled egg photos. That does NOT sound appetizing at all.

Anne said...

Okay, tons of awesome ideas here! I'm especially jealous of your "lunch" - yum!

Jodie said...

Sorry it didn't turn out! But your other ones looks tasty!

Caroline said...

Sorry the bread pudding didn't work out. I love the chocolate cobbler, I really want to make it, thanks for pointing us to that treat.

Jules Someone said...

Sorry the original didn't work, but I love your variation! I make a version of the chocolate cobbler as well. Yum

Unknown said...

Ok your version looks so much better than the one I produced - wish I'd thought to do something like that. I keep hoping the next bread pudding recipe I try will be the one to convince me but it didn't happen this week...

The Food Librarian said...

Love the save and all the desserts you made! ;) - mary

Eliana said...

Oh man - I wish I could put my hand through the screen and have a bowl full of that chocolate cobbler. It looks simply amazing.

Amber Marie said...

Hilarious pic - too cute! :) The chocolate looks delicious! I was wondering how multi-grain bread would do (that's the kind I love too!) but chickend-out and made it with a chicago roll instead.

Unknown said...

How fun to make your own open-face bread puddings! Looks fantastic (as does the chocolate cobbler - I've had my eye on that one since PW posted it). Yum!

Jacque said...

Ah, darn. I think bread pudding might be one of those desserts that take a while to perfect. Good job turning this into something positive, though. Your little creation looks darn tasty.

Unknown said...

That chocolate cobbler looks mout-watering, Katrina! I'd seen it on TK, never got around to making it, though!